The present invention relates to an improved collapsible box. In the prior art, fruits and vegetables are commonly shipped from their point of origin in corrugated containers which are discarded after a single use. Such discarding of corrugated containers wastes materials, such as wood products used for corrugated containers, wastes space in landfills and wastes money.
Alternatively, fruits and vegetables are shipped from their point of origin in boxes which are reusable but which are not collapsible. When such containers are employed, returning of the containers to their point of origin is expensive because, since they do not collapse, they take up a lot of room on a ship.
With environmental concerns growing year by year, a need has developed for a container designed to be effectively employed in shipping fruits and vegetables, which container may be erected, stacked in several rows for transport, and which may be collapsed to a volume of no more than one-fifth its erected volume so that such a container may be economically returned to its point of origin for re-use.
The following prior art is known to Applicants:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,132,812 to Webster discloses a collapsible metal packing case including sheet metal walls with reinforcing straps, with the packing case being collapsible to a flat configuration. The present invention differs from the teachings of Webster as contemplating sequential collapsing of the walls of a container, and wherein the walls have openings therethrough to provide ventilation for fruits and vegetables carried within the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,404,632 to Morgan discloses a corn drier consisting of a container having ventilated walls and wherein three of the walls are hinged together whereas a fourth wall is solely hinged to a bottom wall. The fourth wall may pivot outwardly away from the bottom wall, however, due to the configuration of the bottom wall, the fourth wall may not pivot inwardly. The present invention differs from the teachings of Morgan as contemplating a collapsible container wherein the four walls thereof may collapse inwardly as well as outwardly and wherein each wall is separately collapsed when the entire container is collapsed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,375,374 to Lepp discloses a hold-down clip for carton closure flaps designed to interengage between two adjacent container walls. This patent is believed to be of only general interest concerning the teachings of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,311 to Schluttig discloses a collapsible pet carrier including a plurality of walls which may be collapsed for easy transport of the device. Schluttig requires a complicated guidance mechanism to guide the collapsing of the carrier. The present invention differs from the teachings of Schluttig as contemplating four walls each of which is pivotably connected to a bottom wall, which walls may simply collapse into a flat configuration without the need for any guidance structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,464 to Burnett discloses a knockdown reusable container including clips designed to hold the various sides in assembled configuration. The present invention differs from the teachings of Burnett as contemplating a collapsible container having a bottom and four sides pivotably mounted on the bottom, which container may be collapsed into a flat configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,236 to Prodel discloses a collapsible and stackable plastic transport case including a bottom, side walls and a cover. The Prodel device is designed to be collapsible into a small configuration for easy transport when not in use as a container. The present invention differs from the teachings of Prodel as contemplating a collapsible shipping crate wherein the side walls thereof are ventilated to provide ventilation to fresh produce contained therein and wherein the hinges are vertically staggered to allow easy collapsing into a flat configuration for return to point of origin and re-use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,647 to Gyenge et al. discloses a collapsible storage bin including a plurality of walls which may be pivoted to an upright position to form a container and wherein hinges are vertically staggered to permit collapsing into a generally flat configuration. In Gyenge et al., the hinges of the end walls are vertically staggered since the height of the end walls causes them to be in an overlapping configuration when collapsed. In the present invention, by contrast, since the end walls are short enough in height so that they will not overlap in the collapsed configuration, their hinges are at equal vertical height. Furthermore, in Gyenge et al., the hinge structures are specifically designed to prevent the end walls from pivoting past vertical. In other words, the end walls may only collapse inwardly. In contrast to this, in the present invention, the walls thereof may pivot outwardly as well as inwardly, with the outward pivoting being provided to facilitate cleaning.